SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association) Police in Mexico have arrested a member of a criminal gang accused of killing 43 students in Iguala in September.

Felipe Rodriguez ordered Guerreros Unidos gang members to burn the bodies and clothing of the victims to hide evidence, prosecutors say.

They say the students were detained by police after a protest and handed over to the gang.

The students’ disappearance sparked weeks of protests across Mexico against corruption and violence.

Felipe Rodriguez – known as “El Cepillo” or “The Brush” – was arrested on Thursday night in the city of Jiutepec, some 90km (55 miles) south of Mexico City.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam identified him in November as the gang member who ordered the bodies and clothes of the victims to be burned in a nearby rubbish dump and thrown into a local stream.

‘Mayor ordered killings’

“His intent was to destroy all evidence of the murders,” said Mr Murillo Karam.

More than 90 people, most of them local police in south-western Guerrero State, have been detained so far in connection with the case.

Members of the gang confessed to killing the 43 and burned their bodies after they were told the students belonged to a rival gang.

But the remains of only one student, Alexander Mora, have been identified so far, after being taken for DNA tests at a forensic centre in Austria.